Overview
- At the European Parliament’s inaugural presentation of the European Merit Order on Tuesday in Strasbourg, Angela Merkel, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Lech Wałęsa received the top rank among 20 honorees, with Zelenskyy not attending.
- In her remarks, Merkel urged Europe to safeguard peace, prosperity and democracy and pressed lawmakers to keep strict rules on social media and artificial intelligence to hold falsehoods to account.
- Former generals Pekka Toveri of Finland and Riho Terras of Estonia, now MEPs, denounced the choice and argued that Merkel’s approach to Russia and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline fostered strategic risks that Ukraine is now facing.
- The pushback cited a 2025 interview where Merkel said a proposed 2021 EU–Russia summit failed because of Polish and Baltic resistance, and it followed boos from some MEPs when the award roster was unveiled on March 10.
- The order, created in 2025 with three tiers and awarded by an EP-led jury, is designed to honor work for EU integration and values and now also serves as a stage for live disputes over security policy, energy ties and tech regulation.